ENIAC: The Triumphs and Tragedies of the World's First Computer

The world's first programmable computer was the legendary ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), built by John Mauchly and Presper Eckert. Based on original interviews with surviving participants and the first study of Mauchly and Eckert's personal papers, ENIAC is a dramatic human story and a vital contribution to the history of technology, and it restores to the two inventors the legacy they deserve.

Small Data: The Tiny Clues That Uncover Huge Trends

Martin Lindstrom, a modern-day Sherlock Holmes, harnesses the power of "small data" in his quest to discover the next big thing. Hired by the world's leading brands to find out what makes their customers tick, Martin Lindstrom spends 300 nights a year in strangers' homes, carefully observing every detail in order to uncover their hidden desires and, ultimately, the clues to a multimillion-dollar product.

I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution

It was a pretty radical idea - a channel for teenagers, showing nothing but music videos. It was such a radical idea that almost no one thought it would actually succeed, much less become a force in the worlds of music, television, film, fashion, sports, and even politics. But it did work. MTV became more than anyone had ever imagined. I Want My MTV tells the story of the first decade of MTV, the golden era when MTV's programming was all videos, all the time, and kids watched religiously to see their favorite bands, learn about new music, and have something to talk about at parties.

Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry

Losing the Signal is a riveting story of a company that toppled global giants before succumbing to the ruthlessly competitive forces of Silicon Valley. This is not a conventional tale of modern business failure by fraud and greed. The rise and fall of BlackBerry reveals the dangerous speed at which innovators race along the information superhighway.

How to Be Like Walt: Capturing the Disney Magic Every Day of Your Life

How to Be Like is a "character biography" series: biographies that also draw out important lessons from the life of their subjects. In this new book - by far the most exhaustive in the series - Pat Williams tackles one of the most influential people in recent history. While many recent biographies of Walt Disney have reveled in the negative, this audiobook takes an honest but positive look at the man behind the myth. For the first time, the book pulls together all the various strands of Disney's life into one straightforward, easy-to-listen-to tale.

Sacred Cows: A Lighthearted Look at Belief and Tradition Around the World

Well into the 21st century, our species continues to participate in beliefs and customs that seem more suited to the Bronze Age than the Information Age, some of which involve poisonous snakes, holy smoke, urine bubbles, crystals, tarot cards, aliens, costumed virgins, and, of course, an offering plate. Join Seth Andrews for a random romp across the planet and a humorous look at some of humanity's Sacred Cows.

God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics

C. S. Lewis was a profound thinker with the rare ability to communicate the philosophical and theological rationale of Christianity in simple yet amazingly effective ways. God in the Dock contains 48 essays and 12 letters written by Lewis between 1940 and 1963 for a wide variety of publications.

Catching the Wolf of Wall Street: More Incredible True Stories of Fortunes, Schemes, Parties, and Prison

In this astounding account, Wall Street's notorious bad boy - and original million-dollar-a-month stock chopper - leads us through a drama worthy of The Sopranos, from his early rise to power to the FBI raid on his estate to the endless indictments at his arrest, to his deal with a bloodthirsty prosecutor to rat on his oldest friends and colleagues - while they were doing the same.

Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand

This brilliantly conceived book is based on a lecture course given by Dr. Leonard Peikoff in 1976 entitled, "The Philosophy of Objectivism". The lectures were attended by Ayn Rand, who helped prepare them and who also joined Peikoff in answering questions.

Hell's Angels: The True Story of the 303rd Bomb Group in World War II

At the outbreak of World War II, the United States was in no way prepared to wage war. Although the US declared war against Germany in December 1941, the country lacked the manpower, the equipment, and the experience it needed to fight. Even had an invasion force been ready, a successful assault on Nazi-occupied Europe could not happen until Germany's industrial and military might were crippled.

Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right

Burns highlights the two facets of Rand's work that make her a perennial draw for those on the right: Her promotion of capitalism, and her defense of limited government. Both sprang from her early, bitter experience of life under Communism, and became among the most deeply enduring of her messages, attracting a diverse audience of college students and intellectuals, business people and Republican Party activists, libertarians and conservatives.

Born to Win: Find Your Success

In a style that is unquestionably his own, Zig Ziglar has used his quick wit, down-home charm, and abundance of energy to inspire excellence in people throughout the world. Narrated by New York Times best-selling author Andy Andrews, Zig's nonstop passion will inspire you as if you're sitting front row center in his sold-out seminar. In the Born to Win audio program and PDF workbook, you'll learn how to achieve balance by improving seven key areas of your life, develop a winner's attitude, build stronger relationships, and much more!

Rebel Buddha: On the Road to Freedom

There's a rebel within you. It's the part of you that already knows how to break free of fear and unhappiness. This rebel is the voice of your own awakened mind. It's your rebel buddha - the sharp, clear intelligence that resists the status quo. It wakes you up from the sleepy acceptance of your day-to-day reality and shows you the power of your enlightened nature. It's the vibrant, insightful energy that compels you to seek the truth.

The Science of Interstellar

Interstellar, from acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan, takes us on a fantastic voyage far beyond our solar system. Yet in The Science of Interstellar, Kip Thorne, the physicist who assisted Nolan on the scientific aspects of Interstellar, shows us that the movie's jaw-dropping events and stunning, never-before-attempted visuals are grounded in real science. Thorne shares his experiences working as the science adviser on the film and then moves on to the science itself.

In this revised and updated third edition of Unbeatable Mind, Mark Divine offers his philosophy and methods for developing maximum potential through integrated warrior development. This work was created through trial and error, proving to thousands of clients that they are capable of 20 times more than what they believe.

We the Living

We the Living portrays the impact of the Russian Revolution on three people who demand the right to live their own lives. At its center is a girl whose passionate love is her fortress against the cruelty and oppression of a totalitarian state. Rand said of this book: "It is as near to an autobiography as I will ever write."

Ayn Rand Answers: The Best of Her Q & A

After the publication of Atlas Shrugged in 1957, Ayn Rand occasionally lectured in order to bring her philosophy of Objectivism to a wider audience and apply it to current cultural and political issues. These taped lectures and the question-and-answer sessions that followed added not only an eloquent new dimension to Ayn Rand's ideas and beliefs, but a fresh and spontaneous insight into Ayn Rand herself.

How Music Works

Best known as a founding member and principal songwriter of the iconic band Talking Heads, David Byrne has received Grammy, Oscar, and Golden Globe awards and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In the insightful How Music Works, Byrne offers his unique perspective on music - including how music is shaped by time, how recording technologies transform the listening experience, the evolution of the industry, and much more.

Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand’s Ideas Can End Big Government

The rise of the Tea Party and the 2010 election results revealed that tens of millions of Americans are alarmed by big government but skeptical that anything can or will be done to stop the growth of the state. In Free Market Revolution, the keepers of Ayn Rand’s legacy argue that the answer lies in Rand’s pioneering philosophy of capitalism and self-interest—a philosophy that more and more people are turning to for answers.

Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution

In the 1960s and early '70s, the most prominent, vocal cultural movement was the New Left: a movement that condemned America and everything it stood for: individualism, material wealth, science, technology, capitalism.

Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal

The foundations of capitalism are being battered by a flood of altruism, which is the cause of the modern world's collapse. This was the view of Ayn Rand, a view so radically opposed to prevailing attitudes that it constituted a major philosophic revolution. In this series of essays, she presented her stand on the persecution of big business, the causes of war, the default of conservatism, and the evils of altruism.

A Brief History of Misogyny: the World's Oldest Prejudice: Brief Histories

In this compelling, powerful book, highly respected writer and commentator Jack Holland sets out to answer a daunting question: How do you explain the oppression and brutalization of half the world's population by the other half, throughout history? The result takes the listener on an eye-opening journey through centuries, continents, and civilizations as it looks at both historical and contemporary attitudes to women.

Long Story Short: The Only Storytelling Guide You'll Ever Need

Did you ever wish you could tell a story that leaves others spellbound? Storytelling teacher and champion Margot Leitman will show you how! With a fun, irreverent, and infographic approach, this guide breaks a story into concrete components with ways to improve content, structure, emotional impact, and delivery through personal anecdotes, relatable examples, and practical exercises.

The Fountainhead

One of the 20th century's most challenging novels of ideas, The Fountainhead champions the cause of individualism through the story of a gifted young architect who defies the tyranny of conventional public opinion. The struggle for personal integrity in a world that values conformity above creativity is powerfully illustrated through three characters: Howard Roarke, a genius; Gail Wynand, a newspaper mogul and self-made millionaire; and Dominique Francon, a devastating beauty.

Publisher's Summary

Ayn Rand is the author of two phenomenally best-selling ideological novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, which have sold over 12 million copies in the United States alone. Through them, she built a right-wing cult following in the late 1950s and became the guiding light of Libertarianism and of White House economic policy in the 1960s and '70s. Her defenses of radical individualism and of selfishness as a "capitalist virtue" have permanently altered the American cultural landscape.

In short, this is not merely a history of Rand, but also a lovely portrayal of the "high level" history of the 30's through the 60's. Roosevelt, New Deal, Anti-semitism, Conservatives, were all nightmares for Rand.

Of particular interest to me, was her relationship with Isabel Patterson, author of "God in the Machine." Of course, at the end of the day Rand would have nothing to do with mysticism of ANY sort, which eventually broke the decades long friendship.

Ont to the book itself. It is well written with an engaging style. Heller, is an ecellent historian and put years of research into this effort. I judge her treatment and presentation as fair and balanced. She presents the greatness and genius of Rand along with her deep psychological wounds, which from my understanding dogged her over her entire life. Nevertheless it is an inspiring book in both the positive and negative sense. Positively inspiring because Heller clearly paints an individual who knew who she was -- i.e. her "values" -- and who overcame amazing odds and actually accomplished what SHE set out to do -- to become an independent writer. Negatively inspiring, in that it serves as a lesson for us all that even geniuses need to always be aware they are not believing their own BS.

Ironically, being that "evasion" in Objectivist circles is similar to "unpardonable sin", Rand herself was not immune to psychological dysfunction. Towards the end, all she retained around her were people who jumped when she said frog, and this in both my and the author's opinion was her achilles heel. People, especially geniuses, should not purposely choose a cadre of sycophants as their primary support group. We all need to be challenged, especially the more "forceful" the personality.

Regarding the narrator, Bernadette Dunne, I think she is now my favorite. Her voice is clear and crisp, and she does not merely "read" but is talented at capturing the emotional context of the author's meaning.

I wanted to read a comprehensive, candid biography of Ayn Rand so looked at several. When you face a controversial personality like Ayn Rand's there are a few things to consider: I did not want to read a negative critique of Objectivism masquerading as a biography. I did not want to read a hatchet job of the author by someone who doesn't understand her ideas. Neither did I want to read a paean to Rand nor a whitewash of all her negative characteristics. I settled on Anne C. Heller's book because it sounded as though Heller had read Rand's books and enjoyed their ideas but that she had not drunk Objectivist flavored Cool Aid.

On completing the book, it seems to me that Heller admires Rand's ideals while maintaining the objective view that one cannot expect ideals to translate empirically exactly as outlined. I was most interested in Rand's method of plotting and writing her work. Heller does her best to address these issues by quoting from many of Rand's journals, character sketches and outlines for The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, and to some extent for We The Living. Although all my questions were not answered, I did get a basic understanding of how the author worked and how she maintained her specific theme focus through two works of unwieldy length.

The most interesting part of the books, though, were Rand's personal interactions and relationships. Her absolute rejection of any idea that is not in complete agreement with her own does not come across in her many television interviews during which she is polite if mildly sarcastic when she encounters challenges. In public it seemed to me she was more often attacked than attacking. In her personal life very much the opposite was apparently true. She had no problem dropping people from her society for simply questioning the absolute certainty of her opinions. As I became more and more interested in the book it was quite easy via Google, YouTube, and my public library to verify Ms. Heller's conclusions.

I enjoyed the book immensely. I found that it addressed the dichotomy at the root of modern conservative thought which prevents conservatives from making any progress toward their own agendas, while attempts to slow the implementation of liberal agendas serve only to strengthen and even empower their counterparts. These problems perhaps started with the rational and objective insights issued to conservatives by Ayn Rand in her seminal works.

There have been about a dozen or so books on the life and thought of this incredible woman including personal memoirs from her intimate associates and a biography or two. Anne Heller's new book is easily the most comprehensive and (pardon the pun) objective history of an amazing life. Her life story is as controversial and inspiring as her books and it's all to be found in this powerful and mesmerizing work. Heller's vivid and colorful writing lends itself perfectly to the audio book format and all the drama is there in Bernadette Dunne's wonderful narration. Ayn Rand was a wonderful writer and prodigious thinker who showed enormous courage and determination in the service of an insatiable ambition. Her ideas and the philosophical system she created have lost none of their importance or relevancy. Anyone interested in Rand will find this work enormously interesting and entertaining; one of the few books you never want to end.

I found this to be very interesting. I have been a fan of Atlas Shrugged and was intrigued to learn about the woman who wrote it. Although I don't believe the same things she did, I found Ayn Rand fascinating. She was a fanatic about her views and I believe Atlas Shrugged and her other novels could only have been written by such a relentless person.

I was born and raised in NY. When i was 19 or so, the girl i was dating was an Ayn Rand follower so naturally i had to read all of Rands books I even subscribed to the Objectivist Newsletter. Having said that this audiobook was gripping and held my attention throughout. I can definately see how people believed her following to be cult like. After listeneing to this book the person I felt sorry for most was Rand's husband Frank O'Connor. I would have liked to have lnown him

Would you consider the audio edition of Ayn Rand and the World She Made to be better than the print version?

the audio version brings more life to the story because of the marvelous narration and characterization of Ayn Rand's voice

What did you like best about this story?

the skillful manner in which the faults in Ayn Rand's philosophy are exposed, as the author's reasons as to how Rand's childhood experiences formed her philosophy of rationalism.

What does Bernadette Dunne bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Her voice is reminiscent of that of actress Kate Mulgrew (of Captain Janeway fame). Her husky deep female voice, and the unique emotional quality of her narration, is perfect to tell the story of this famous woman. And perfect also in capturing her Russian accent.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I couldn't stop listening. It was compelling, both the writing and narration

Any additional comments?

My first husband was a devotee of Ayn Rand's philosophy and we spent long hours talking about how make it our life philosophy. My husband was completely devoted to these ideas. This occurred at the height of her popularity. I will never forget her impact on our lives. I read all her books. Nevertheless, I had problems accepting certain aspects of her rational beliefs. I will never forget those times and her impact on our lives. This biography is fascinating in the way it presents a very human Ayn Rand and how her charisma convinced so many to worship her.

What happens when we subscribe to a fantasy world so rigid, so airtight, that the real world can never meet our expectations? I'm not a fan of Ayn Rand, but I found "Ayn Rand and the World She Made" fascinating. Author Heller gives us an even-handed portrait, showing both Rand's admirable qualities, and her deep character flaws. This is one of those rare audiobooks I wished would never end.

The novice reader may not know Ayn Rand's philosophy, although the author does attempt to explain her philosophy within Rand's biography. Perhaps first acquiring "The World of Atlas Shrugged" (available on audible.com) will make Rand's philosophy more understandable. If you are familiar with the concept of "Objectivism," you will enjoy listening to how Ayn Rand's personal life led her to her ideology that many Libertarians and economic advisors (Allan Greenspan) have admired. The narration is well-read, but the overall story is actually more dramatically presented in Barbara Brandton's book "The Passion of Ayn Rand" (not available in audible). However, I've enjoyed listening to this biography on several occasions and I've learned something new each time, but be aware that a little background on Rand will be helpful.

Paints the story of a brilliant yet flawed intellectual devoted to spreading the word on objectivism and free market capitalism I her passionate defense of the individual. Heller gives interesting insight into the ideas and late night discussions that gave voice to the characters of Rand's novels and the battle against repression and altruism they fight. Thought provoking reviews of Rand's novels and essays come along for the ride as well. The book pulls no punches in the brutal portrayal of Rand as a ego centric control freak who saw no one but her cult like following inner clique as even having a chance of being worthy of existence. She left relationships and marriages in wreckage in her wake as she epitomized the self centered life she glorified.

Having read all of Ayn Rand's books I found this biography fascinating. I had to go back and read some of the novel's texts, and it gave me a new perspective.
The author shows great respect for her subject, while at the same time illustrating some very disturbing flaws in her personality. There are some interesting one line comments that are left hanging that need more explanation, but are given short shrift. If you are a reader of Ayn Rand this may open your eyes to some things. If you do not know who she is and have not read her books, you may walk away a bit confused. I would recommend it for people who have read at least The Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged. If you haven't read at least one of those two books, then this is not a good introduction to Ayn Rand.